Bacillus coagulans Probiotic Alcoholic Beverage Brewing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Developing an alcoholic beverage with live probiotics is challenging due to acidic conditions that hinder the growth and survival of probiotic bacteria, and there is a need for a suitable probiotic strain that ensures high recovery, tolerability, and viability of spores and vegetative cells.
Innovation Solution
An alcoholic beverage composition containing Bacillus coagulans spores or bacteria, which are added at various stages of brewing, including malting, fermentation, and post-fermentation, to maintain viability and stability throughout the process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If probiotic bacteria are added to alcoholic beverage, then health benefits are provided, but survival of probiotics is hindered due to acidic conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical-chemical parameters of the brewing environment by controlling pH levels and temperature conditions during different brewing stages. Specifically, the method maintains pH between 6.0-8.0 during probiotic addition and uses temperature control (15-25°C for ale, 2-10°C for lager) to create favorable conditions for probiotic survival while still achieving the desired health benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by adding probiotics at specific early stages of the brewing process (during mashing or fermentation) rather than after brewing is complete. This timing allows the probiotics to acclimate and establish themselves before the full acidic environment develops, improving their survival rate while still delivering health benefits.
2Reliability
If probiotics are added during brewing, then viability is improved, but process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the probiotic addition step with existing brewing operations by incorporating probiotics into the mashing or fermentation stages that are already part of the standard brewing process. This integration approach increases probiotic viability without requiring completely separate or additional complex equipment, as the probiotics are added during routine brewing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The brewing process is designed to serve multiple functions simultaneously: it produces the alcoholic beverage while also serving as the delivery mechanism for probiotics. The same fermentation vessels and processes used for alcohol production are utilized to cultivate and preserve the probiotics, eliminating the need for separate probiotic cultivation systems and reducing overall process complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The use of Bacillus coagulans in the beverage composition ensures high recovery, tolerability, and viability, maintaining the health benefits of probiotics while being compatible with the brewing process, as demonstrated by stability and viability studies across different stages and conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a method of brewing an alcoholic beverage composition comprising Bacillus coagulans wherein said spore or bacterium is added prior to fermentation, during fermentation and post fermentation
Data Source
AI summary
A probiotic-alcoholic beverage composition comprising Bacillus coagulans is disclosed herein wherein the said spore or vegetative cell of Bacillus coagulans exhibited high recovery, tolerability, compatibility and viability of spores and vegetative cells after brewing. Methods for brewing an alcoholic beverage composition comprising Bacillus coagulans wherein said spore or bacterium is added during pre-fermentation, during fermentation and post fermentation stages are also disclosed.